Stop Motion Animation

After doing a stop motion video for my final project, I have found a whole new appreciation for it. My 1 minute and a half took forever, and to imagine even making an entire movie is just unfathomable. These are just some of the great stop-motion films that have been made, and now watching them I can't even imagine the process and patients that went into making them. With that being said though I really enjoyed making my stop motion video, the end result being able to make anything come to life, to be animated, is such an interesting concept and I am so happy I got to mess around with it. Seriously though next time you watch an animation like this, I hope you realize just how much blood sweat and tears went into because it's quite the process.

Lava (From "Lava" (Official Lyric Video))

My best friend Lauren recently created a masterpiece of a lyrical video for her final project and it really struck an interest in me. When I got home I started looking up some lyrical videos and stumbled  upon this masterpiece. I really can't explain the journey you're about to embark on if you watch this video but just know its going to change your outlook on life. This video projects the true importance in love, family and world peace. enjoy...

Phineas & Ferb

Created by Dan Povenmire & Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, Phineas and Ferb is a show about what kids can do with summer. I think it's inspiring the idea of kids needing to get out and play, because every day they build something new and crazy, and if kids had half of that motivation, we would need "get up and play" commercials. I could honestly watch this show for hours, especially because there's a cute little musical number in each episode. Characters in the show are made up of simple geometric shapes like rectangles, circles and triangle, because they're supposed to be easy for kids to try and draw on their own, and they make sure that each character has a recognizable silhouette.

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

The video I chose for this blog is Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz. This band has shown creativity in the past by using animation during their live performances. The video is a 2D animation that is animated by Robert Valley, Heath Kenny, and Rikke Asbjorn. It was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland, and the production company is Passion Pictures. This video is very entertaining because it tells a story and the animation is done very well. Check it out!

Animation in Canvas

This semester I took a class called Multimedia Programming, where I did a lot of work animating in HTML 5 Canvas. This was my first semester working with canvas, so my skills are at a very beginner level and all of my animations were really simple (e.g. moving an image across the screen).

However, I'm always amazed to see how beautiful and complex animations can be made in canvas. The link below leads to a really cool cycle made by Mark Ferrari and Joseph Huckaby. While you're viewing it you have the option to click through different animated landscapes, change the cycle speed, and view the color palate.

I was really impressed by this when I first saw it, and honestly it's still my favorite thing I've ever seen done in canvas. I'd really like to be able to produce work like this eventually!

http://www.effectgames.com/demos/canvascycle/

Raidohead is Back

Radiohead just released a new song with a cool stop-motion music video from director Chris Hopewell.  It seems to be some sort of tribute to The Wicker Man.

Newton for After Effects

Newton is an awesome plugin for After Effects that simulates 2D physics. As someone who has worked with 3D programs such as Cinema 4D where simulating physics is very smoothly built in and advance, this plugin is a great crossover. Instead of key-framing a ball bouncing for example and trying to make it look as real as possible, Newton allows you to tweak real world physics properties of your objects and simulate real physics. It is great for having things that react to gravity such as objects falling. You can set objects as static and all objects will collide with each other automatically, which is very handy. The plugin has tons of possibilities, which I look forward to exploring, and I have been using some on my third project.

The program is $250 but you can get a free trial and try it for yourself. Here is the website, and here is where you can download it. I highly recommend you check it out.